UK Against Fluoridation

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

"Virginia Head Start data revealthat, overall, 21% of enrolled children 3–5 years of age need dental treatment;needs in individual Head Start Programs in Virginia range from 3% to 46%.""Virginia Head Start data revealthat, overall, 21% of enrolled children 3–5 years of age need dental treatment;needs in individual Head Start Programs in Virginia range from 3% to 46%."

7:46 am, 28 Feb 2007 Auckland's three District Health Boards have defended the use of fluoride in the city's water supply. Yesterday, a city councillor, John Hinchcliff, called for fluoridation to be reconsidered, saying there is substantial evidence of its toxic effects.His recommendation was overwhelmingly rejected by the council.

The Chief Medical Officer of the Auckland DHB, Dr David Sage, says fluoridation is an effective public health measure supported by solid scientific evidence.Mr Sage says it is safe and cost effective and adequately reduces tooth decay.

Infant Formula Warning Applies in NZ as much as USWednesday, 28 February 2007, 11:35 amPress Release: Fluoride Action Network Fluoride action Network NZ IncInfant Formula Warning Applies in New Zealand Just as Much as the USA.It’s official!"The issue isn't the infant formula itself, but the [fluoridated] water it's reconstituted with”. This statement was made recently by Professor John Stamm, spokesman for the American Dental Association (ADA), and William Maas, the Oral Health Director for the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in confirming the ADA’s warning of November 2006 – that infant formula must NOT be reconstituted with fluoridated water because of the unacceptable health risk to the baby.The NZ Ministry of Health continues to claim that the warning only applies in the US, not in NZ, in spite of the clear statements from the ADA. “The Ministry falsely claims that water fluoridation was allowed for when setting the allowable level of fluoride in formula – impossible when it is the water itself that is the problem, not the formula, as confirmed by the ADA and CDC” says Mark Atkin, National Co-ordinator for Fluoride Action Network (NZ), a voluntary organisation of scientists, health professionals, and others opposed to fluoridation on both health and ethical grounds. “Further, the Ministry admits it doesn’t hold the information claimed, and has never seen such calculations!” adds Mr Atkin, following a Ministry reply to an Official Information request.

“In fact NZ formula contains over 3 times as much fluoride as US formula, so the problem is even worse here. For the Ministry to deliberately lie to the public in this way, putting the public’s health at risk, is not only deplorable, it is legally actionable” asserts Mr Atkin, who has both a science degree and an honours degree in public law.

“The scientific case against fluoridation – that it is not only ineffective but harmful to health - becomes even more overwhelming with almost every month that passes. It is only political bloody-mindedness and public deception by officials and others that keeps this unconscionable practice going. But no one can keep the truth suppressed forever, as we are seeing” concludes Mr Atkin.

A referendum is vitalBy Readers' LetterWE wish to protest to what is mass medication by having fluoride added to our water supply.Many people are on tablets for various complaints and extra fluoride in the water may be harmful.Some people have faulty immune systems - including our daughter and granddaughter - will they be able to cope with the increased dosage?A referendum is vital The people of Bolton have already said NO, and should be heard.Mr & Mrs Whalley Brook Gardens Harwood 9:18am Tuesday 27th February 2007

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Need for fluoride questionedBy Tom MinervinoSince 1963, the Town of Mount Desert has been adding toxins to its drinking water by public mandate, according to water district manager Paul Slack. It was 44 years ago when the town voted to added fluoride to the water, which supplies about 1,000 connections in Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor. The intended purpose was to combat tooth decay. But in the past four and a half decades, research has shown that fluoridation may not be as effective as once thought in making teeth healthy, and may harm babies and cause cancer in boys.At the annual town meeting on March 5, voters will decide by ballot whether to remove fluoride from the water. The question, according to state law, must read just as it did when originally put to vote: “Shall fluoride be added to the public water supply for the intended purpose of reducing tooth decay?” Only this time, a “yes” vote maintains the status quo, while a “no” vote removes the fluoride.Mr. Slack believes the question is worded “extremely unfairly.” For starters, he said studies from the Center for Disease Control state that ingesting fluoride does not increase its effectiveness – topical applications with toothpaste or mouth rinse are just as effective, if not more so. He also said the fluoride added to water is not pharmaceutical grade, but industrial grade. It is a byproduct of the phosphate industry that would have to be disposed of as a toxic waste if it were not sold in barrels to be put into drinking water supplies.“It’s a hazardous waste,” Mr. Slack said of fluoride. “It’s rat poison.” He added that it contains trace levels of lead, arsenic, and plutonium.While other chemicals, like chlorine, are added to water to kill bacteria, fluoride does not make water safer, he said. It is added solely to benefit dental health.“We’re mass medicating the community without the license to do so,” said Mark Johnson, the water district’s lab director who holds a grade-four license in water treatment and distribution, the highest available in Maine. He has spent the last six months researching the issue of water fluoridation and concluded it should end.“It’s been the status quo for so long, but for us to let it continue on with the information out there now is irresponsible,” Mr. Johnson said. He compared it to asbestos and leaded gasoline – things once believed safe, only to be proven harmful later on.

Mr. Slack pointed out a Harvard study published in 2006 by Dr. Elise Bassin which found a correlation between bone cancer and fluoride consumption in boys up to the age of 17. He also cited a recent statement from the American Dental Association – a long time proponent of fluoridation – which said babies should not be given fluoridated water in their formula or food as it can inhibit the formation of healthy teeth. With fluoride now contained in everything from Coca-Cola to breakfast cereals, Mr. Slack said “we’re way over fluoridated to begin with.” A presentation by Michael Connett, the project director for Fluoride Action Network, during the public meeting portion of Tuesday night’s selectmen’s meeting stated that cases of fluorosis – an overexposure to fluoride – have increased five-fold in the past fifty years, now affecting about a third of the U.S. population. He said the condition is even common in non-fluoridated communities, given the prevalence of fluoride in other products. He added that while cavities have become far less common since the 1950s, there is no correlation between low cavity rates and water fluoridation.Adding fluoride to the water in Mount Desert costs about $3,000 a year, a small fraction of the water district’s operating budget, Mr. Slack said, so money is certainly not the motivation. He wants only to reverse 44 years of thinking in order to provide what he sees as safer drinking water.“There are no smoke and mirrors here,” he said. “If people actually look at things, we think they’ll come to the right decision.”

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 12:20 AM ESTTo the editor:In the Centers for Disease Control's Web site statement of November 2006, wherein the CDC advises that parents may now wish to avoid fluoridated water when making up infant formula throughout a baby's first year, the CDC used the definition of questionable dental fluorosis to describe both very mild and mild dental fluorosis. Playing fast and loose with T. Dean's official definitions of the five severity levels of dental fluorosis is a common tactic by fluoridation defenders who are clearly concerned about the inherent liability of this out-of-control public health policy. To attempt, in this official statement, to conceal the severity of dental fluorosis suffered by U.S. children today clearly reveals the corner into which the CDC and the American Dental Association have backed themselves.

Dean's 1942 Classification and Criteria for dental fluorosis is still the standard used today. Here is the description of each fluorosis tooth classification. Normal: Smooth, glossy, pale creamy-white translucent surface. Questionable: A few white flecks or white spots. Very Mild: Small opaque, paper-white areas covering less than 25 percent of the tooth surface. Mild: Opaque white areas covering less than 50 percent of the tooth surface. Moderate: All tooth surfaces affected; marked wear on biting, surfaces; brown stain may be present. Severe: All tooth surfaces affected; discrete or confluent pitting; brown stain present.

According to the CDC, currently one-third of children aged 12 to 15 years in the United States have very mild to mild forms of fluorosis. This is the first sign of fluoride poisoning. The tooth disfigurement is permanent.

Dentist added fluoride to waterAssociated Press Article Launched: 02/26/2007 09:21:25 PM PSTLAGUNA HILLS - David B. Ast, a New York dentist who helped show the effectiveness of fluoridated drinking water in preventing tooth decay, has died. He was 104. Ast died Feb. 3 of heart failure at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, where he had lived for several decades, according to his daughter, Jill Michtom. In 1944, Ast began a 10-year study of fluoridation that bolstered the use of fluoride in public drinking water to prevent tooth decay. He selected two towns of similar size along the Hudson River, Newburgh and Kingston, and compared the health and dental records of their residents. During the study, Newburgh's water was treated with fluoride compounds, while Kingston's water was not. The results showed that children in Newburgh had a 60 percent reduction in numbers of cavities between the ages of 6 and 9, and a nearly 70 percent reduction in cavities by the time they reached ages 12 to 14. Moreover, the study found no significant difference in the incidence of cancer, birth defects and heart or kidney disease between the two towns. The use of fluoride in Newburgh was subsequently used as a landmark case study for other municipalities in New York State.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Soldier in fluoride fight marches on By ANNE GEGGIS Staff Writer ORMOND BEACH -- Clutching a fat stack of papers -- most of them Web site printouts --Jim Schultz strode to the microphone in front of the Daytona Beach City Commission one evening last month, the highlight of his two-year campaign against fluoride.Jim Schultz talks during a January City Commission meeting at Daytona Beach City Hall. What the medical establishment considers one of its greatest public health achievements, Schultz considers an insidious poison he must battle in city halls across Volusia County."Maybe you haven't been online. Maybe you haven't been listening," Schultz warned, his hands on the papers and his voice rising slightly. "Children are at risk when they receive fluoridation as infants."Finally, he has made some headway. In January, the 59-year-old, work boot-wearing carpenter convinced the city of Ormond Beach to put a warning about fluoride for infants in its quarterly newsletter. And for the first time in his crusade, the issue was now center stage in Daytona Beach -- not just relegated to the general comment period of a meeting. Turning his attention toward the American Dental Association's and the state Health Department's insistence that fluoridating water has benefited society as a whole, Schultz continued, "They operate like a military machine. They don't use logic. They argue that it's the most economical way to improve the health of the most people. And sure it's cheap, it's the byproduct from a pollution scrubber. But don't trust me, I would defer to . . . .""Mr. Schultz, your time is up," interrupted City Clerk Jennifer Thomas . But Commissioner Dwayne Taylor wanted to hear more. "Are you saying that these people -- the Health Department, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) -- what they are telling us is all wrong?" Taylor asked.Schultz replied without hesitating: "You finally got it." If the commissioners got it, they didn't believe it, voting 6-1 to continue fluoridating Daytona Beach's water.Still, Schultz is continuing his crusade.The Ormond Beach resident said he has never been so fired up about an issue as the one that's brought him to at least a hundred civic functions during the past two years. He's been on the sidelines of city parades, wearing signs with anti-fluoride messages. He's beseeched city governments from Port Orange to Ormond Beach. And he's bent the ear of anyone who will listen -- and many who would rather not -- talking about buried fluoride studies, documented fluoride side effects and the corporate interests that led to the nation's widespread embrace of water fluoridation in the 1950s.A conversation with him will convince a listener that he's not exaggerating when he says, "I have enough where I can talk for days."Before this, a candlelight vigil against the Vietnam War had been the extent of the Michigan native's community involvement. So his sudden civic activism has been hard on his wife of 30 years."It almost ruined our marriage," said Kay Schultz. "He was on the computer 16 hours a day. No matter where we went, that's all he talked about." The crusade began when Schultz began feeling arthritic. Alarmed he might not be able to continue as a carpenter, he started searching for a solution at a health food store and was asked how much water he customarily drank every day. Since he works outside often, the answer was a couple of gallons. "He (the health food store owner) said, 'Well, that's it,' " Schultz said. The explanation was that the large amount of water he was consuming was giving him a higher dose of fluoride than recommended.He immediately switched to bottled water and typed "fluoride" into a Google search engine. Soon, he said, he started feeling better physically, but the information he found concerned him greatly.He went to the Ormond Beach City Commission in March 2005, unaware that since the 1950s fears about fluoride have been raised -- and largely dismissed.He cites a Web site and the findings detailed on it. In this era of infinite facts at our fingertips, questions about the site's accuracy prompts Schultz to answer: "How do we know anything is correct?"The overall reception he's received from city leaders bewilders him. "I had a Boy Scout mentality -- I thought they would look at the science," he said. "I had no idea that policy and position would be more important."Ormond Beach Mayor Fred Costello, who is a dentist, said the science is in -- on the side of fluoride in the water."I have the utmost respect for Jim's passion," Costello said. "But I don't agree with his conclusions."Rebuffs like that have only made Schultz more determined. Lee Shavers, owner of Peggy's Whole Foods in Ormond Beach and South Daytona, who originally led Schultz to his "Aha" moment, said few anti-fluoride fighters have been as relentless as Schultz."He has the type of personality to really just keep carrying the ball, get knocked down repeatedly but keep on rolling," said Shavers, who himself has largely given up the fight in public.After being shot down by the Daytona Beach City Commission, Schultz took his fight to an even higher level -- representatives from the state Health Department -- who had been called to the meeting in case more information was needed."Unions at the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) sued over fluoridation," Schultz told Michael Easley, the dental health coordinator at the state Health Department."Unions sue over everything," Easley retorted."The truth will win out," Schultz declared."It will win out again and there will be fluoridated water," Easley said.The challenge was laid. So Schultz picked up his sign and soldiered on.

Dental woes Dental care remains a major concern for low income child and adult populations. The health department dental clinic provided 14,713 services last fiscal year. Even with this amount of work, children have an appointment wait of two months to see the dentist and three to four months to see a dental hygienist, Tate said. There are no practices that regularly accept patients with difficulty paying. The health department has no appointments available for new low-income adults, and other providers in the county do not take Medicaid or provide sliding fee scales and/or payment options. Numerous adults suffer from poor oral health with a lack of dental hygiene and abscesses from tooth decay. “This contributes to great suffering and inability to eat properly. When bacterial plaque in the mouth gets into the bloodstream, it causes the same plaque to build up in the arteries, contributing to coronary heart disease, the number one cause of death in Haywood County,” Tate said.

The fluoridated water system for this county is:Brownsville Water Department

Why do they keep pushing fluoridation when it is obviously not the panacea that they all claim it is?

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Villanueva said one of every 500 children in the country suffers from cleft lip and palate deformities. "Good nutrition of mothers and fluoride in the water system may help prevent such deformities," she added.

Fluoride to prevent cleft lip and palate deformities - that's a new one.

Chlorine gas sickens 5 employees of city utilitySaturday, February 24, 2007By KEITH CLINESTimes Staff Writer keith.clines@htimes.com Officials say leakat water treatment plant a minor one Five Huntsville Utilities employees were taken to the hospital Friday afternoon after inhaling chlorine gas at a northeast Huntsville water treatment plant. Huntsville Utilities said the leak was minor. The employees were taken to Huntsville Hospital as a precautionary measure, said Jay Gates, spokesman for the Huntsville Fire & Rescue Service. Four employees were treated and released, and one was being kept overnight as a precaution, he said. Huntsville Utilities, citing privacy issues, said it would not release the employees' names. The leak was reported shortly after 1 p.m. at the water treatment plant for the Dallas-Lincoln well at 140 Neely Ave. The plant is behind the Lincoln Baptist Church, south of Oakwood Avenue and just east of Meridian Street. Utilities employees were filling a water tank on a trailer hitched to a pickup truck used for field work when the chlorine gas leaked, utilities spokesman Bill Yell said. The employees were overcome by the fumes, he said. "It's kind of the equivalent of strong bleach," Gates said at the scene. "It dissipates real fast." Firefighters and the department's Hazardous Materials Team found a chemical release of sodium hypochlorite (bleach), hydrofluorosilicic acid (fluoride) and sodium thiosulfate, Gates said in a statement.

The release of the chemicals was confined to a small area and neutralized, he said, and vapor levels in the building and surrounding areas dropped to normal range a few minutes later.

The leak presented no danger to the drinking water system or to the environment, Yell said

Saturday, February 24, 2007

IMB responds to water Julie-Anne Barnesjuliea@imn.ieRegulations which will reduce the level of fluoridation in Irish water to 0.7 mg underestimate the fluoride risks from fluoridated drinking water and are medically indefensible according to Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (VOICE). According to its spokesperson Mr Robert Pocock, the fluoride chemical hydrofluosilicic acid permitted under the regulations has no marketing authorisation from the Irish Medicines Board and therefore under the EU Medicines Directive its addition to drinking water is unlawful.The IMB said the legislation which addresses the need for licensing of medicinal products for human use does not address the licensing of individual substances such as fluoride. The IMB said it “considers that neither drinking water itself nor the fluoride added to drinking water in the form of fluoride salts or silica fluoride as defined in the Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies Act 1960) should be categorised as medicinal products requiring marketing authorisations”.In addition, the IMB said that drinking water, as defined by EC Regulation 178/2002, specifies that water, when it comes out of the tap, is defined as a food or foodstuff unless it is otherwise defined as a medicinal product.“The IMB considers that the fluoridation of drinking water should be seen as a measure consistent with general public health management.”He added that parents “are copped on to the effects” of dental deformities, and while there is huge demand for orthodontic treatment there is no demand for the treatment of fluorisis.Dr Joe Mullen, a member of the Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health, and who is Prinicipal Dental Surgeon with the HSE West, told IMN that it was a “no brainer” to discontinue water fluoridation merely to prevent fluorisis, and that fluorisis is unnoticeable, while the treatment of dental decay was so serious that it may involve having a general anaesthetic. According to Dr Mullen, the best evidence suggests that there is not a concern with general health and he does not accept the argument that “dental fluorosis is a manifestation of systemic toxicity”.Mr Pocock said however that “the status quo on water fluoridation now makes no sense, medical or otherwise, and this policy must be reversed”.

LOS ANGELES — The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has written a letter to the Southern California Metropolitan Water District (MWD), which will add fluoride to tap water this July, asking it to make sure the public is aware of the report from the American Dental Association (ADA) which recently cautioned about the potential harmful affects fluoride can have on children's tooth enamel, a February 21 Foodconsumer story reported.The letter said, "It is deeply troubling that children, including bottle-fed infants, will begin drinking fluoridated water without the benefit of the ADA warning and in spite of the many [other] serious concerns [about fluoridation] raised by the National Academy of Sciences last spring."The letter, dated February 20, was addressed to MWD General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. Copies were mailed to the district's board, local water agencies, and elected local and state officials, the story said.................

Over 900 Oral Health America supporters gather tonight at Chicago's Navy Pier Grand Ballroom for the nation's largest charitable event in dentistry, raising funds to improve access to care for the 108 million Americans without dental insurance.......

Nationally, over 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental disease, and for every dollar spent in preventive care now, communities save $8 to $50 in restorative care later, especially for the many thousands of Americans without insurance and routine access to a dentist. Tooth decay, caused by bacteria in the mouth, is the most common chronic childhood disease.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Mums' fury at school sweets banGARETH ROSEEDUCATION REPORTER (grose@edinburghnews.com) A HEADTEACHER ordered chocolate bars to be seized from children after declaring a ban on sweets in an Edinburgh primary. Leith Primary head Alasdair Friend introduced the new rules this week in a drive to improve the diet of children at the school. But he was forced to back down after only two days when furious parents complained to the council about sweets being confiscated. City council chiefs have now told Mr Friend he has no authority to dictate what children have in their packed lunch. Parents today said the short-lived ban at the St Andrew's Place school had been "ridiculous". They were told about the new rules coming in on Monday in a newsletter earlier this month. Some chose to ignore it, believing it would never be enforced, but it is claimed when Mr Friend spotted eight-year-old Ian McWhirter with a Twix at lunchtime he immediately seized it. The youngster's little brother Stephen, five, also had a Kit-Kat taken off him by a teacher. The boys' mother Janet, 42, of Duke Street, a cleaner, said: "We received a newsletter from the headteacher saying no more sweets would be allowed to be brought into school. "That's taking parents' rights away from them. Surely it's up to us what we give out children for their lunch. "My boys brush their teeth. They get their five fruit and vegetables a day, why shouldn't they enjoy a treat at lunchtime?" Sara Bremner, 31, of Restalrig Road, whose son Ryan, 11, and daughter Kia, six, attend the school, added: "I think it's absolutely ridiculous. "How dare they tell me what I can feed my child. My kids don't eat a lot of sweets, they don't get any after school but they enjoy a treat at lunchtime and I enjoy giving it to them." Mr Friend's bid to improve children's diets at the school includes plans to open a healthy tuck shop after Easter selling fruit and low-fat foods. He surveyed parents on what they wanted their children to eat before Christmas, and believed outlawing treats during school time would be a popular move. The newsletter said the ban was being introduced with the support of the school board and 82 per cent of parents. The letter went on to warn that any sweets would be confiscated and returned at the end of the day, adding "the school definition of a sweet includes Kit-Kat and Twix bars etc". And it claimed that legislation going through the Scottish Parliament would prohibit sweets in school. In fact, the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill will only apply to the sale of sweets in schools, not food brought in by pupils. An education spokeswoman at the council said today: "The headteacher genuinely thought he had the support of parents and the school board. He now realises that some parents have come out against him and he cannot impose it as a rule. "As an authority we can't tell parents what to put in their children's lunch box." SNP education spokeswoman and Lothians MSP Fiona Hyslop said the case highlighted the need for a "commonsense" approach to healthy eating. "There is a serious drive on in schools just now for healthy eating," she said, "But you have to do it in a commonsense way that takes the children with you. Confiscating sweets is maybe not the best way of persuading pupils to eat healthily." Colin Mackay, Edinburgh secretary of the EIS teachers union, added: "The headteacher must not take powers that are beyond what is reasonable. "In this instance everyone's heart was in the right place and if there is a conflict between the parents and the school they should try and work that out together."

This Friday, Brushy Creek Elementary fourth-graders will learn the nuances of proper toothbrushing with the help of an oversized toothbrush, giant plastic teeth, and a giraffe named Geena. The presentation is part of Round Rock dentist Fredrick Lewcock's outreach for National Children's Dental Health Month. With students nationwide losing more than 51 million school hours annually to dental-related illness, schools have good reason to promote preventative care, especially to low-income children, among whom 50% of tooth decay goes untreated.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Kids' teeth shock tollRotten to the core: Children in poorer areas have six times as many fillings as more wealthy children CHILDREN'S teeth in Sheffield are as bad today as they were 10 years ago, a shock new report has revealed.And the gap between the dental health of children living in deprived and affluent areas is showing no signs of closing.The report reveals a sixfold difference in the amount of fillings and extractions carried out on city children aged up to 11.The average child in Gleadless Valley has three missing or damaged teeth while in Ecclesall youngsters of the same age have half a decaying tooth.Health chiefs believe drastic action is needed - and adding fluoride to the water supply could dramatically reduce tooth decay in city children."There has been no change in dental health in the last 10 years," warned John Green, director of Dental Public Health at Sheffield Primary Care Trust, the author of the report into children's dental health and dental services in Sheffield."Improvements we have seen in the 80s and 90s have stopped. "This is a big problem as we are not getting any further and the inequalities are as great as ever," he said. Use of fluoride toothpaste has helped reduce levels of tooth decay, which has been even more marked in areas where fluoride is added to tap water.Sheffield Council has so far rejected requests from health chiefs to add the chemical to tap water.

Opponents claim it is damaging to health and denies people the choice of what is in drinking water. Rotherham Council is currently considering whether to approve fluoridation for its water supply.But Mr Green said tooth decay in children is half as common in areas where fluoride has been added to the water supply over the last 30 years - such as the West Midlands and Lincolnshire which have similar levels of deprivation as Sheffield."The answer is not more dentists, fluoride has the most effect," said Mr Green, who presented his findings to a meeting of Sheffield Council's Children and Young Person Scrutiny and Policy Board.Coun Pat White questioned if fluoride is known to have any ill effects on health, including on kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But Mr Green said there was no evidence that the chemical, which is used in small quantities, causes ill health. Statistics shows the split between the dental health of wealthy and poor children in Sheffield is very marked."Half of city's five-year-olds have no decay, while the other half have a lot of it. If you have decay, it is likely a lot of teeth, as many as five or six, will be affected."This is a disease of poverty. If you are living on a low income you many not be able to afford healthy food and you have many other problems, so dental health is not such a priority." Most five-year-olds with decayed teeth are not receiving treatment. Areas in north and south east Sheffield, such as Manor, Burngreave, Gleadless and Arbourthorne, are worst for dental health.Children in north Sheffield are more likely to have teeth extracted than filled. That could be because they are not seen until the tooth has decayed, or parental choice.Parents are encouraged to use fluoride toothpaste. About 2,000 of our 50,000 children have fluoridated milk.There are concerns about the availability of NHS dentistry under the new NHS contract. Only 10 per cent of dentists are taking new patients. Other surgeries have longer waits for check ups than before.

Going by the above if you increased the poorer people's income the dental health problem with their children would be solved. Most likely it would become worse as it would enable them to buy more of the wrong food.Healthy food is usually cheaper than ready made and they don't have to drink from cans of fizzy acid.

Write now: On drinking water Jason Krueger Sauk Rapids Published: February 21. 2007 12:30AM STORY CHAT (11) REGISTER HERE NOW TOOLS EMAIL PRINT BUY PHOTOS SET TEXT SIZE I have read several recent reports about safe drinking water, including those referring to the Clean Water Legacy Act, with interest.A primary aspect of clean water is that it remains as natural and untainted as possible. Every water utility in Minnesota is required to add a known EPA pollutant to city water supplies. This is hydrofluorosilicic acid (commonly known as fluoride). Our state lawmakers decided this in 1967.Despite noted scholars' objections to fluoridation (including reasons related to health, safety and freedom), Minnesota remains complacent in continuing this sorely outdated practice.In contrast to information commonly spread by various dental associations, I encourage people to become informed about what comes from the tap and determine if fluoride is right for them.Personally, I do not approve of any form of medication in a one-size-fits-all prescription — particularly one that is added to our drinking water without consent.

Child dental scheme 'fails poor' Affluent children were more likely to have treatment after screening The UK-wide programme to screen school children for tooth decay should be scrapped because it does not improve dental health, government experts say. A trial of 17,000 children found those from poor backgrounds benefit least from screening despite having much higher rates of dental disease. The Department of Health says primary care trusts should consider investing the funds saved in other strategies. Experts said adding fluoride to drinking water would have more impact. Children aged six to nine years are currently screened at least three times for signs of tooth decay by dentists who go into schools. This is a signal to PCTs that dental screening is dead in the water Those found to need further treatment are sent home with a letter asking them to go to their dentist. But research suggests follow-up is poor.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Poor diet is a cause of tooth decayBy Readers' LetterWE wish to express our total opposition to fluoridation of Bolton's public water supply. To even suggest such a measure when the average child's diet is so appallingly bad, is to ignore the truth. To be unaware that children are actually being poisoned by the lack of basic vitamins and minerals in their diet is a scandal.It is about time that dentist Chris Brooks got acquainted with the fact that the root cause in the epidemic of tooth decay in the young is faulty diet. In a recent TV programme, one child was consuming the equivalent of 80 teaspoons of sugar a week! Why is he and the PCT not tackling this over-indulgence of sugar? Poor diet is not related to deprivation, but to ignorance, laziness, over-indulgence, and excess.Compulsory fluoridation will not tackle nor cure the epidemic of childhood obesity and tooth decay, because it is a poor diet which is solely at fault. Gillian McKieth proves it time and time again that a diet rich in vital minerals and vitamins is essential for a healthy body and healthy teeth. It is not rocket science, Mr Brooks, but common sense! When the issue of poor diet, and the copious consumption of canned, acidic sugary drinks is addressed, then there will be a corresponding improvement in the health of the young and their teeth also. Don't try to sell us the myth that fluoridation will magically improve children's teeth, while they carry on overdosing on fizzy drinks and sugary foods.It is an abuse of power to attempt to enforce fluoridation on those who keep to a healthy diet and correspondingly have got excellent health and teeth. To do so will be a gross abuse of their human rights. Thus it will be vehemently opposed, and a legal challenge will be mounted to fight this abuse. I have lived in Bolton all of my life, and I avoid fluoride in toothpaste, because it damages healthy teeth. Thus, now in my 60s, I have never had toothache. I have never had a tooth extracted, and I have had no fillings due to dental caries. I never require dental treatment either. Why then, Mr Brooks, should I ingest a cumulative poison, and pay for it too, when I do not need nor want it? Fluoride has got no use in the human body. It is proven to damage bone, red blood cells, and the soft tissues.

PUBLIC VIEWS SOUGHT ON FLUORIDETHE public will be asked their views on whether the water supply should be fluoridated, it's been confirmed.Health and Social Security Minister Eddie Teare said the issue would go out for consultation over the next year and revealed, should the go-ahead be given, the cost of introducing a fluoridation scheme would be £150,000. In response to a question from Quintin Gill (Rushen) in Tynwald this week, Mr Teare said the Department of Health and Social Security did not have a policy to fluoridate water but said one may be developed depending on the results of the consultation process.He promised the consultation would be balanced and assured Mr Gill the public's views would be fully taken into account. The cost of the scheme, should it be introduced, would not be passed on through water rates, Mr Teare confirmed.In the past, the DHSS's public health directorate has supported fluoridation, saying it was a cost-effective way of helping to prevent tooth decay in children.According to statistics, the Island's children have some of the worst teeth in the British Isles, comparable with those in deprived areas.But anti-fluoridation pressure groups and some members of the public see fluoridation as enforced mass medication.Do you favour fluoridation?Send us your viewsBe the first

ALAN RODEN HEALTH REPORTER (aroden@edinburghnews.com) ONE of Edinburgh's leading dental experts today warned that children will continue to be "blighted" by tooth decay unless fluoride is added to the Lothian water supply. Colwyn Jones, consultant in dental public health for NHS Lothian, said youngsters were being failed by the Scottish Parliament's failure to act on the controversial issue. Although fluoride toothpaste has been introduced in nursery schools across the region, Mr Jones said this does not go far enough. Speaking personally and not on behalf of NHS Lothian, he today called for the ability to force Scottish Water to fluoridate the supply when asked to do so by health boards. Compulsory fluoridation is seen by some experts as the best way of improving Scotland's dental health record, which ranks among the worst in Europe. But the issue is controversial, because research has linked the chemical to cancer, brittle bones and Alzheimer's disease. Environmental groups and some doctors are opposed to the move, fearful of toxic side effects. The Scottish Executive did consider adding fluoride to the country's water supply, but First Minister Jack McConnell abandoned the plans in 2004. Mr Jones today said: "Why are we continuing to fail every generation of Scottish children by not introducing this simple, safe, cheap and effective public health measure? "Studies over the past 60 years have consistently shown fluoridation to be safe and effective. "If nothing changes, then unacceptably high levels of tooth decay are likely to continue to blight Scotland for another 60 years." Latest figures show only 55 per cent of four and five-year-olds in the Lothians have no sign of tooth decay. The introduction of daily brushing in nursery schools in the Lothians has helped improve the situation over recent years, but according to Mr Jones, an extra 7500 children could be decay-free every year, had the Scottish Parliament introduced fluoridation across the country in 1999. Around six million people in the UK currently drink water with added fluoride, mainly in England. In Scotland, a small area of Grampian is naturally fluoridated, and there have been a handful of schemes in places such as Wick and Stranraer. John Davidson, chairman of Lothian Independent Dental Practitioners, today said universal fluoridation would help improve the teeth of children in some of the country's most deprived areas. "Anything that can be done to reduce tooth decay is going to stop misery for a lot of kids," he said. But Mark Ballard, Green Lothians MSP, said: "Mass medication of the population is not a 21st century answer to dental problems. "This is a matter of people having the freedom to drink water without worrying about what is in it and what it is doing to their health." Dr Alison McCallum, director of public health with NHS Lothian, today said the matter will be kept "under review". A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: "Ministers looked at the issue of fluoridating the water supply earlier in this parliament and decided not to change the current legislation at this time

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

How to add $20,000 per year to your hygiene revenue by Annette Ashley Linder, BS, RDHFor all the years I have been in dentistry, one of our main goals has been to reduce the caries rate in the patient population. For awhile, the dental profession succeeded in doing so. But did you know that for the last several years, the caries rate in America has turned around and is on the upswing? There are several reasons for the upturn. These include poor diet, access to dental care, and longevity. Thanks to science, modern medicine, and drugs, we are now living longer. While this is good news, it is not unusual for dental providers to see more gingival recession in patients. Recession may be the result of the aging process, occlusal considerations, improper brushing and home care, periodontal imflammation and infection, etc. Whatever the etiology, the final result is a higher incidence of root caries. This trend is not just seen in our older patients. According to the National Institute of Dental Research Studies, 7 percent of 18-year-olds and as high as 21 percent of 35-year-olds have already suffered from one or more teeth with root caries.....................

Another anti-fluoride argumentBy Readers' LetterI SPENT six years researching the questionable practice of mass medication without consent that is water fluoridation.That culminated in my writing "Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death?" There is no doubt whatsoever that water fluoridation is a dangerous, harmful process.Just to give one reason. Five years ago Dr Elise Bassin earned her PhD from Harvard University for her finding that water fluoridation increased the risk of a bone cancer, osteosarcoma, in boys. Although Dr Bassin received her doctorate for this work, her dissertation was suppressed for four years. But Dr Bassin's work also confirmed other similar findings. Because of a large study on rodents and epidemiologic evidence of an increase in osteosarcoma in boys and young men, especially in fluoridated areas, in 1992 Dr Perry Cohn of the New Jersey Department of Health surveyed its incidence in seven counties of New Jersey relative to water fluoridation.He found that in the fluoridated areas, the numbers of this cancer in boys was up to 4.6 times higher than in the unfluoridated areas. In a similar study of three New Jersey municipalities, the figures were up to nearly seven times as high in the fluoridated areas (the figure that Dr Bassin found).Cohn also found that the general population in those areas was also five times as likely to suffer a cancer. Osteosarcoma is rare but it is the leading cancer in childhood. The question those who would fluoridate us against our wishes is, "How do they justify an increased cancer risk?"There are many other arguments against this tyrannical practice.Barry Groves PhD http://www.second-opinions.co.uk Chipping Norton Oxfordshire.

Monday, February 19, 2007

The foundation provided $5,000 for the project, which has been making stops in February throughout the Magic Valley in celebration of National Children's Health Month."There are a potential of about 400 students to be seen," said Hodges, an employee of Family Health Services and president of the South Central Idaho Dental Society. "As part of the (American Dental Association's) health month, they suggest providing services for oral health the first Friday of the month but we decided, with the grant and other efforts, to provide clinics each Friday."The team has visited Castleford and Filer elementary schools, providing fluoride and/or sealants to more than 100 students."Thirty-five percent of Idaho children don't have dental insurance and probably don't have regular access to one," said Kathy Ellis, Idaho coordinator for the Regence Caring Foundation for Children. "We want to reach those kids and give them a good start with their dental care."

Sunday, February 18, 2007

The health fund MBF has released figures showing a 42 per cent increase in children being treated in private hospitals for dental cavities.Six year olds experienced the biggest increase in private hospital admissions with 42 in the year 2000 almost doubling to 82 in 2005.MBF Chief Medical Officer Dr Christine Bennett says the overall dental health of children is deteriorating in spite of protection from fluoridation of domestic water supplies.

MEDICAID: Kids need access to dental careTooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood. It has been linked to adult health problems, such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and upper respiratory infections. Less than 30 percent of children on Medicaid have access to dental services. These children suffer from twice as many dental caries, their decay is more severe and they are more likely to go untreated. Recent Medicaid cutbacks have resulted in more pediatric dentists refusing to accept Medicaid. The offices of those who do are saturated with patients in desperate need of even the most basic dental care. Many of these children end up in local emergency rooms with severe oral diseases that could have been prevented. As a local pediatrician, I have found this lack of equal access to dental care alarming. I recently saw an 8-year-old boy who came to me for a checkup. He was a pleasant young man but was very shy and very thin. When I tried to examine his teeth, he refused to open his mouth. After much coaxing, I found out why he was so hesitant - his four top teeth were black and rotted away. He told me that he is teased frequently about his teeth, so he does not talk much and he won't smile for anyone. The poor condition of his teeth not only affected his nutritional health, but it affected him emotionally and socially as well. Because the child was insured by Medicaid, the options available to him were very limited. I could do so little for this child who needed so much. There is nothing sadder than a child who does not smile. Children are entitled to proper oral health. We must give children a voice in the political arena where so many decisions are made that affect their young lives. I encourage all people in the city of Jacksonville to contact their local legislative representatives and ask them to please fight to improve Medicaid funding for oral health care. All our children deserve to face their future with a bright and healthy smile. TRICIA FALGIANI, M.D., Jacksonville

Friday, February 16, 2007

Did you know the fluoride in your toothpaste isn't the same as what we drink? This fluoride... we spit out is pharmaceutical grade. The fluoride local governments put in your drinking water is industrial grade.Does it matter? Should you care? North Baldwin utilities does... the water board stop putting this in the water. Community coverage you can count looks at fluoride facts.Nothing brightens a smile like a set of pearly whites. The dental community gives fluoride much of the credit. "It simply makes the teeth harder. You really can't understand that until you've put a dental drill on them and see how much harder the teeth are" says Doctor David Tillery, a long time dentist in the Baldwin County town of Bay Minette. Tillery is a staunch supporter of community water fluoridation and believes it's responsible for saving teeth of many people who otherwise would be wearing dentures."it's a hazardous waste. It's a hazardous byproduct, it would have to be disposed of in accordance with E.P.A. standards for handling hazardous waste. As it stands now, they can sell it to water districts and we can get rid of it by putting it in the water", says Margo Allen, Ph.D. She questions whether we're risking overall health for strong teeth. Allen uses a filter in her home to remove the chemical. But, as a member of the North Baldwin Utilities Board, she recently voted to stop adding fluoride to the water supply. Allen says, "I sit on the board for a utilities company. We provide water for our customers. We have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that what we put in the water at our treatment plants is not going to harm the citizens that we serve. We're going to remove the fluoride and we're going to give our customers a choice, and we're going to recommend that they continue to brush their teeth and continue to use fluoride on an oral basis and see their dentist. That is from a standpoint of informed consent. I think we're all concerned with informed consent."

Many people do not realize the "silver" amalgam fillings are 50% mercury. A large filling may contain as much mercury as a thermometer. Mercury vaporizes easily at room temperature, and in this state, is odorless, colorless and tasteless. Inhaled mercury vapor is readily absorbed into the bloodstream. The World Health Organization has concluded that dental fillings contribute more mercury to a person's body than all other sources of mercury combined. Mercury is a powerful poison. Published research demonstrates that mercury is more toxic than lead, cadmium or arsenic. No amount of exposure to mercury vapor can be considered harmless. Especially considering its cumulative effect.

Editorial comment February 16 2007By Grant ShimminThe bell is about to go for the last round, and this will be the telling one. At the end of it, on March 10, we’ll know for sure whether or not fluoride is going back into Ashburton’s water supply.Not surprisingly, this week has again seen the level of debate ramp up on an issue that gets plenty of people’s backs up. A number of medical professionals, including more than a dozen who have signed a letter on this page today, have supported fluoride’s reintroduction.Opponents, again including several on this page, have been just as vocal.Leaflets have been dropped in mailboxes, posters and billboards have gone up around town.For the person trying to look at the arguments for and against and make an informed decision, it’s a difficult one, because so much is said and written on both sides of the debate.Implicit in much of the rhetoric coming from the anti-fluoride faction has been the suggestion that the Canterbury District Health Board, and by extension the Ministry of Health, is pushing a political agenda by arguing for the return of fluoride, with little regard for the real harm it might cause.From the pro-fluoride side, there is a tendency to pick holes in the tactics of those on the opposite side of the debate, suggesting they muddy the waters by the sheer volume of material they generate.These strategies, though, are really peripheral to the central debate and for those who must vote in the referendum, which will run its course three weeks from tomorrow, there is a real need to be able to make an informed decision.At the end of the day, you must be happy that if you’re voting to put fluoride back in, you and your family are going to benefit. Or that if you decide to vote against it, there are sound reasons for doing so.What is important is that this is an opportunity to exercise a democratic right, and given the relatively small number of people who will get to vote, there is a real chance your vote might make a difference.So make sure you exercise it between now and March 10.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Water is monitored for chemicalsBy Readers' LetterComment | Read Comments (7)IN his otherwise very balanced letter on fluoridation, John Taylor made one factual mistake.Fluoride doesn't occur naturally in some sources of drinking water, it occurs naturally in all sources of drinking water.But he is spot on in observing that our drinking water is not "pure" but contains additives to make it not merely safe, but acceptable to consumers. It would be perfectly safe to drink slightly discoloured water, but water companies intervene to prevent such discolouration because of the aesthetic concerns of consumers, rather than on health grounds.He is also right to point out that "natural" water, even without treatment, is a complicated cocktail of chemicals containing not only fluoride, but arsenic, lead, cadmium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nickel, zinc, barium, copper, manganese, trichloroethane, aluminium and tetrachloroethane, amongst many other naturally occurring chemicals.

The good news is that United Utilities have a highly trained and skilled workforce who constantly monitor the concentrations of chemicals in the water supply to ensure that we enjoy water of superb quality.

United Utilities are monitored in this work by the Environmental Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate who ensure that chemical concentrations are at safe levels.

A simple fact is that if fluoride were to enter the water supply at the levels proposed by the medical profession, as a result of an accident or as a by-product of industrial activity, rather than as a medical intervention, there is nothing that the Environmental Agency, Drinking Water Inspectorate or any other agency would do about it because it would comply with internationally accepted safety standards.

One final point which never seems to be addressed in this debate is this.

Why, if water fluoridation is harmful, has it been supported by, not only the entire dental and medical profession, but also of such lay bodies as Action for Sick Children, Help the Aged, MENCAP, the National Children's Bureau, the National Autistic Society and the Patients' Association?

Are they all involved in some vast conspiracy against the health and welfare of the British public?

"Human breast milk delivers only 0.004-5 parts fluoride per million of milk to the baby -- 250 times LESS than considered 'safe & effective' and 'optimal' for us by authorities! "Authorities who have had safety data sheets from suppliers telling them for decades that workers handling the product ought to wear full protective clothing! (Lawyers sharpen your pens and get out your calculators -- and come over here to Ireland where we've legally HAD to fluoridate our waters thanks to some nifty pro-fluoride legislation enacted in the 1960's!)"And just so you know the margins we're talking about here ... 1 part per million is like 1 minute in 23 months, 4 days and some hours. And 0.004-5ppm is like one quarter of a second out of that same period!! That's the level nature wants a baby to get. "And yet Wal-Marts are still peddling bottled fluoridated water for babies and children. Please consider signing this petition asking them to stop: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/walmart/

"Learn more about fluoride, fluoridation and the issues involved at http://www.fluoridealert.org."

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Vancouver Sun Recommends Crank Website for Health InfoTrevor Butterworth, February 13, 2007Wellness doc alarmed over, well – just about everything, including drugs to treat AIDS and the risk of dying young from winning the lottery. While you are waiting for the arrival of the Avian flu pandemic, the Vancouver Sun believes it’s important that you maintain a constant state of worry, preferably about everything you might come into contact with outside of a hermetically sealed hypo-allergenic bubble. Thankfully, there are numerous apocalyptic websites out there to provide quick, downloadable content to fill the news hole, which the Sun did in a recent feature titled the “Top 10 most common environmental toxins.”The content comes from wellness guru Dr. Joseph Mercola, who, the paper fails to note, doesn’t really feel good about mainstream medicine, vaccination, prescription drugs, and, naturally enough, the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Mercola is against contraceptive pills – recommending that women should “Avoid birth control pills like the plague” – and, instead, use natural contraceptive methods like withdrawal. He is against the HPV vaccine, and is suspicious of the claim that HIV causes AIDS; he does not appear to believe that either condition should be treated with drugs.Among the inordinately long list of things Mercola is not exactly keen on, there is pasteurized milk, soy, pretty much every kind of grain, potato chips, bottled water, burning incense, artificial sweeteners, chlorinated swimming pools, fluoride in water, Viagra, microwave ovens, cynicism, and allowing your pet to fight a porcupine.

I do not buy Dr Mercola's products but mnany of the things he says seem sensible.

Govt labelled arrogant over fluoride responseThe South Australian Government has been labelled arrogant during a Mount Gambier City Council debate over whether the south-east city's water supply should be fluoridated.The Government last month approved SA Water to begin consulting on using fluoridation to cut tooth decay in children.But the city will write to Health Minister John Hill, asking him to halt plans to fluoridate the water supply until he has extensively consulted the community.

THE debate over whether we should add fluoride to the town's water or not is still rumbling on - years after the original proposal was made.Bolton's children have some of the worst teeth in the country, but is it right to mass medicate everyone to stop the rot? No, says Bolton MP David Crausby, who wants a referendum on the subject. Yes, say Bolton Primary Care Trust health chiefs and the majority of dentists.Children's bad teeth are indicative of them being allowed to eat and drink too many sweets and fizzy drinks.

Reader PollShould we add fluoride to Bolton's water?Yes 6.5% No 93.5%

If parents reduced this intake the state of Bolton children's teeth would be much better, and the issue of fluoride might not be as divisive as it currently is.There should be a full and final debate on the subject of whether fluoride should be added to the town's water supply or not. That should be followed by a referendum, the result of which should be final.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Fluoridation should continue says Expert BodyThe Irish Expert Body on Fluoride and Health has told the Oireachtas Health Committee that water fluoridation is effective, safe, the only known side effect is fluorosis and it has recommended that it continues.The Chairman of the Body, Dr Seamus O Hickey, said however the only caveat is that the body has accepted the recommendation of the Forum on Fluoridation to reduce the level of fluoride and therefore reduce the level of fluorosis.The Statutory Instrument to allow for the reduction of fluoride was introduced last week.The Body was established on the recommendation of the For­um on Fluoridation in April 2004 and will implement the recommendations of the Forum.Since its establishment, the Body has been seeking to have a toxicologist on its Board, however a dispute between the Depart­ment of Health and toxicologists, meant toxicologists, as a matter of principle would not join.The Body was in agreement with members of the Oireachtas Committee that the health messages provided on toothpaste should be made bigger.Members of the Body are about to begin a consultative process with industry on the messages to be provided, for example that small children should not use fluoride toothpaste and only a pea sized amount for children should be used.According to the Body, dental decay rates in the Republic are likely to increase, at least in line with those of Northern Ireland, without the benefit of water fluoridation. In addition it continues to advise that infant formula should be reconstituted with boiled tap water and they consider that fluoride in Irish tap water in the concentrations known “poses no medical problems for infants or the population in general”.Meanwhile, VOICE (Voice of Irish Concern for the Environ­ment) spokesperson, Mr Robert Pocock has accused the Oir­eachtas Com­mittee of failing parents of bottle-fed babies and “thousands of other people at risk from fluoride in drinking water”. He also said that further research on the effects of fluoride are needed.

Fluoride in water is put in the spotlight by health authorityComment | Read Comments (2)WELSH Water has been asked to carry out a feasibility study on the possibility and cost of putting fluoride in drinking water in Herefordshire.Children in the county are said to have the poorest teeth in the West Midlands, where many other authorities have supplied fluoridated water for up to 20 years.Welsh Water confirmed that West Midlands Strategic Health Authority had requested the study. It would take eight weeks and start in April, at the earliest."We are responsible for providing our customers with excellent drinking water and we do not add fluoride to our water. Dosing drinking water with medical additives is a matter for medical authorities,'' it said.Herefordshire Primary Care Trust has emphasised that whatever the findings, full, county wide consultations will take place before a decision is made.Dr Frances Howie, director of public health, said the health authority had a statutory duty to consult and discuss with the public before any action was taken and this would be done.The request from the SHA to look at the situation in Herefordshire follows a recent government Water Bill, which included a new set of statutory arrangements including the risk of litigation against water companies.One problem facing Welsh Water is the complexity of water supplies in Herefordshire, which come from various sources.Already lodging an objection to fluoridisation of the county's drinking water is Hereford Times reader Susan Seaman, of Bush Bank.She has made her views known to both the West Midlands SHA and Herefordshire PCT and describes fluoridisation as a system of excessive state power."My main argument against it is, not so much that big agrochem is stuffing its waste down our throats, as the denial of choice of the individual,'' she said.

She urged people to demand a referendum on acceptance of fluoridisation of water supplies by writing to Dr Rashmi Shukla of the Strategic Health Authority at 5, St Philip's Place, Birmingham B3 2PW.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Planned new dental clinics a step closer By KAMALA HAYMAN - The Press | Monday, 12 February 2007 A $31 million project to tackle soaring rates of tooth decay in Canterbury children has passed its first hurdle. Canterbury youngsters have the worst teeth in the country, with the richest Fendalton children suffering decay rates equal to those from the poorest parts of south Auckland. Martin Lee, clinical director for school and community dental services, said a lack of fluoride in the water was to blame, with poorer households hardest hit. On average, half of Canterbury children will have at least one cavity before their sixth birthday. But in the lowest deciles, the average five-year-old has four rotting teeth. Lee said cases such as that of a four-year-old girl who needed 16 rotten teeth pulled out were not unusual. In a bid to improve the care of children's teeth, the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) has approved a business plan for 12 new community clinics and 20 mobile units to replace 128 school dental clinics. If approved by a regional capital committee this month, and then the Health Ministry, the four-year building project will begin at the end of next year. Lee said the inequalities were widening, with rates of tooth decay in early childhood doubling in Christchurch between 1996 and 2004. He said the current school dental clinics could not cope. The buildings were "a disgrace" there were severe staff shortages, with the mean age of dental therapists now 53. School dental clinics built in the 1950s and 60s were cramped and outdated and unattractive to new graduates. "The facilities don't meet anyone's requirements," said Lee. They had poor infection control, did not meet modern health and safety requirements and were open only 60 days a year. About 45 per cent of schools did not have a clinic, so children had to be ferried to check-ups. The new plan would see 18 mobile units travel between all schools. Two mobile units would be fully fitted for treatment. In most cases, children needing fillings would have to be taken to a community dental clinic. Six clinics are planned for Christchurch, including a six-chair clinic in Hillmorton, and three-chair clinics in Casebrook, Burnside, Hornby, Pages Road and Woolston. Another six would be in Kaikoura, Kaiapoi, Rangiora, Rolleston, Akaroa and Ashburton. Most would be built on school land but would not be constrained by school hours. It would cost $20 million for the new buildings and mobile units and an extra $1m on operating costs in the first year, rising to $4.5m by 2011. Canterbury's plan, expected to go to the Health Ministry by the end of February, will be the first to bid for a share of a $100m pot announced by the Government last year for oral health services. CDHB board member Alister James said Canterbury was entitled to a large share as its need was so great. The district's oral health was "the worst in the country", said chairman Syd Bradley, thanks to a "Luddite" view on fluoridation. Fluoridated water could cut treatment sessions by one-third, potentially saving $2.7m in building costs. But board member Robin Booth said he was "against the idea of mass medication", and putting fluoride in the water was "morally wrong". The Christchurch City Council has refused to consider fluoridation, while the Ashburton District Council has called a public referendum on the issue to start on February 16. CDHB project manager Sue Dasler said the biggest risk to the project's success was attracting enough staff. Otago University dental therapy head Susan Moffat said 2004 changes allowed therapists to work in private practice, reducing numbers opting for the school dental service. Career options would further increase in 2009 when graduates would have a combined dental therapy and dental hygiene qualification. New facilities and equipment could help to attract therapists to the school service, she said.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

I read with interest Toni Hooper's letter about the recent water board meeting in Bay Minette concerning the addition of fluoride in the water supply. She states that one of the board members informed her of some of the negative effects of fluoridation. Hooper remains skeptical and asks that if such information were true, why is it not common knowledge and, why public officials would not then be culpable. Because of her concern for children to have healthy teeth, she wishes to make it illegal for utility boards to cease fluoridation. The fluoride in our water supply is a toxic industrial waste product. The reason that this fact is not well known is because there has long been collusion between the American Dental Association, the government and the suppliers to suppress the truth. Whether fluoride really has an effect in preventing tooth decay is debatable, but it is at the cost of accumulating in the brain and the bones, causing or contributing to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, bone cancer, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's as well as fluorosis, infertility and premature aging. In studies by the National Cancer Institute (Burk and Yiamouyiannis), The California Tumor Registry and many others, cancer deaths were found to be from 10 percent to 40 percent higher in cities with fluoridated water than in non-fluoridated cities. That fluoride is toxic is evident by simply reading the warnings on a tube of toothpaste. For accurate information about the subject, I recommend the book "The Fluoride Deception" by Christopher Bryson, the September 2004 "Blaylock Wellness Report" by Dr. Russell Blaylock (board certified neurosurgeon, health practitioner, author and lecturer), and Dr. Paul Connett's Web site www.fluoridealert.org. Connett is a specialist in environmental chemistry and toxicology. Fluoride is neither safe nor effective. If Ms. Hooper and others remain unconvinced, they have the option of taking fluoride tablets. Those of us who are concerned about the toxic effects would prefer not to have fluoride forced upon us. It is a substance that is not easily removed from our water but requires expensive water filters. People who live in poverty cannot afford them, nor can they afford to drink bottled water.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Five years after its first attempt, the California Dental Association Foundation is renewing efforts to fluoridate Watsonville water with a new funding offer of $1,563,038.

In a letter Wednesday to City Manager Carlos Palacios, the foundation announced it would offer $1,242,700 for construction of water fluoridation facilities in Watsonville. Funding also includes $320,338 for maintenance and operation for the first two years, according to Jon Roth, executive director of the CDA Foundation, which acts as the charitable arm of the CDA.

The new grant follows years of legal wrangling and heated debate over adding fluoride to city water since the City Council first accepted a $946,000 offer to fund fluoridation facility construction and first-year operation costs in 2002. In response, fluoride foes led the drive for voter-approved Measure S, which banned adding substances not approved by the Food and Drug Administration to city water.

After the city rejected a revised award from the CDA, the state Department of Health ordered the city to comply with the offer. Watsonville then pursued the case in Santa Cruz Superior Court, where a judge ruled in 2004 that state law trumped the local ordinance against adding fluoride to water. The Sixth Appellate Court upheld the decision.

Debate ground to a halt on Feb. 8, 2006, when the California Supreme Court declined to hear the city’s case against adding fluoride.

Since that ruling, Roth said the city had sent revised cost estimates to the CDA Foundation. A working group also needed time to advise the foundation, which is responsible for distributing money for fluoridation from the California Endowment, a private philanthropic group, Roth said.

Watsonville has long been considered an ideal fluoridation site because of its significant oral health needs, Roth said. The CDA Foundation hopes the new facilities can be constructed within 18 months, he said.

Santa Cruz County groups, including Salud Para La Gente, Santa Cruz Medical Society and the Monterey Bay Dental Society, that tout fluoridation as the most effective way to prevent tooth decay are now turning their attention to the City Council, which must decide whether to accept the grant.

Laura Marcus, executive director of Dientes Community Dental Care in Santa Cruz, cheered the offer, adding that her organization has called for water fluoridation since 1994. According to the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, California has the second highest rate of tooth decay in the country, next to Arkansas.

“Tooth decay can be easily prevented,” Marcus said. “Fluoridation is a social justice issue. Watsonville kids deserve the same chance as other children.”

Easily prevented? Yes for intelligent educated people with intelligent caring families not by wholesale medication of contaminated fluoride

Friday, February 09, 2007

Children's tooth decay on declineMore than half of Primary One pupils had no signs of decay Levels of tooth decay among primary one pupils in Scotland are falling, according to new figures. Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald announced the results of a National Dental Inspection Programme on a visit to a school in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. However, the British Dental Association has warned that more must be done to ensure people have access to NHS dentistry services. The figures showed that 54% of Primary One pupils had no sign of tooth decay. That is the best level since monitoring began in 1987. I am really encouraged that children's oral health is improving so rapidly Lewis MacdonaldDeputy health minister It compared with 51% in 2004, and 45% in 2003.The figures also showed that the average number of filled, missing or decayed teeth is 2.16 per primary one youngster, compared with 2.36 in 2004 and 2.76 in 2003. The executive said the statistics were proof that tooth brushing schemes and education programmes in Scotland's nurseries and primary schools were working.Ministers have set a target of 60% which they hope can be achieved by 2010.But the number of children and adults registered with an NHS dentist is continuing to decline.The executive said it was tackling the problem and has recruited more than 200 dentists in the last two years. The nursery class at St John's Primary, Alloa, visited by Mr Macdonald, offers daily supervised brushing, with fluoride toothpaste, from the age of three. 'Right direction'And NHS Forth Valley reported the best results of any health board, with 68% of primary one children's teeth showing no obvious signs of decay. "I am really encouraged that children's oral health is improving so rapidly," Mr Macdonald said "These figures are the best since reporting began in 1987 and show continuous improvement since 1996. "It is through projects like tooth brushing schemes we have introduced that we are really beginning to make a difference to children's oral health." He said more than 100,000 children across Scotland take part in a daily toothbrushing scheme at nursery and primary school and that the executive was planning to roll the scheme out to more schools. "I recognise that historically Scotland has had a poor oral health record but I firmly believe that today's figures are a sign that things are moving in the right direction and we are helping keep our children's smiles free from decay," he added.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

The benefits of fluorideLately there has been a lot published regarding the pros and cons of putting fluoride in the water.I came to Oregon in my 20s and when I went to a dentist for cleaning, he said to me, “You are not from Oregon, are you? I’d guess you are from Montana.” I asked how he figured that out. “I know because you have no cavities at all.”I don’t remember anyone going to the dentist very often, if at all, except for breaking a tooth or getting braces. The people in Montana have no choice. The fluoride is already in the water. I think maybe the people here should reconsider for the sake of our teeth.Alice Swope, Lebanon

Would be very convincing but do the facts as reported in past postings confirm that fluoridated areas are so wonderful - they don't.. Could it be that the natural calcium fluoride in Montana is different and beneficial?

More fluoride isn't necessarily safe February 8, 2007The Star-Gazette recently reported that the Corning City Council is hoping to come up with the necessary funds to adjust fluoride levels in the city's water supply. Powerful lobbyists are hard at work to persuade the council members that ingesting more fluoride, higher levels than found in our water, is an absolutely safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay for all residents. How can such a one-size-fits-all approach be true?Since individual's water intake varies widely, a person's weight, age, health and so on must play a role in effectiveness and safety. How much water do children, the actual target group, have to drink to benefit from fluoride?If fluoride is such a potent chemical that when ingested can alter and strengthen tooth enamel, one must consider it a drug or a medicine that is supplied to everybody in unregulated doses. The fact that other communities are fluoridating their water for years does not prove the absolute safety of this practice. For decades we also believed that asbestos, lead and even smoking have no adverse health effects, and we were proven very wrong.Our bodies are already overburdened with countless controversial chemicals, and to knowingly consume even more seems imprudent.HENRIKE DOWLER

"If your household has fluoridated water and your child is taking concentrated formula that's reconstituted, if it's economically feasible to use bottled water to reconstitute it, that would be a good idea," Adair said.Children are at greater risk, Maas noted, from improper use of toothpaste than from tap water. For years the CDC has urged parents to be careful with toothpaste to avoid children swallowing it and putting them at higher risk of fluorosis.Since 1996 (USA)toothpaste tubes have carried a warning that parents should consult with a dentist or doctor before introducing a child younger than 2 to fluoridated toothpaste."People still don't realize how important it is to control toothpaste use," Maas said.

Sky News Australia - Report no longer available

In 75% fluoridated Australia

"Tooth decay in children under the age of 12 is at its worst in decades according to new figures from dental experts. ""There's been a 42 per cent increase in the number of children with cavities visiting private hospitals, and the number of stainless steel crowns fitted on baby teeth has almost doubled."

Editorial: The Treasure Coast is under siege by a small group of pseudo-scientistsFebruary 7, 2007Their objective? To persuade elected officials to remove fluoride from public water systems — or not add it at all.Americans witnessed a similar experience 50 years ago, when rabid anti-Communists fanned irrational fears and succeeded in turning popular opinion against thousands of respectable citizens. Those same people warned that fluoridation was a Communist plot to poision U.S. drinking water.The anti-fluoride folks are at it again. This time the object of derision isn't alleged Communism, it's fluoride itself — an additive that boasts a 60-year-plus record of providing safe, effective, cavity-fighting protection.The anti-fluoridationists, armed with unsubstantiated studies and irrational arguments, scored a major victory in December when they persuaded the Martin County Commission, by a 3-2 vote, not to add fluoride to the county's public water supply. They turned their attention next to the Stuart City Commission, which opted to put the fluoride issue before voters in a public referendum.The anti-fluoridationists then asked the board of the St. Lucie West Services Distrct to quit adding fluoride to the water system. The board complied, voting unanimously to end the practice. Thankfully, a St. Lucie County ordinance requires water fluoridation, so the decision by the board is on hold. For now.No doubt we can expect this well-intentioned but ill-informed group to seek to change the county ordinance.Is Indian River County, which fluoridates its water, the next battleground?Sadly, there is a growing disconnect between good, solid science and the public health decisions that are being made by elected officials along the Treasure Coast. "We've arranged a global civilization in which most critical elements depend on science and technology," said Dr. Carl Sagan. "We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology." And because we live in a society that doesn't understand the scientific underpinnings of fluoridation — or isn't willing to trust the authoritative voices who do — the anti-fluoridationists are being allowed to shape public health policy."Fluoridation is the single most important commitment a community can make to the oral health of its children and to the future," said former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.Every credible scientific study — and there are many of them — substantiates this conclusion.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Epidemiologist, L. Joseph Melton, III, M.D., has a storied history in the field of bone loss epidemiology. His collection of data from residents of Olmsted County, Minn., which determined the incidence, complications and cost of osteoporotic fractures, led to a seminal paper, in 1992, which determined the enormous impact of osteoporosis on public health (Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 7:1005-1010, 1992). Dr. Melton's work also helped provide the basis for the first definition of osteoporosis by the World Health Organization (WHO). Today, he and other members of Mayo's osteoporosis research team are working with WHO to devise better ways to predict fractures. Dr. Melton worked in concert with another pioneer in bone loss, endocrinologist Lawrence Riggs, M.D., whose early work introduced the concept of bone density and its measurement with the first densitometer. Before their work, the increased incidence of bone fractures and stooping was considered a natural consequence of aging rather than a disease. Later studies were the first to show that human bone has estrogen receptors, the first to demonstrate the efficacy of estrogen therapy, and the first to show that the use of fluoride increases bone density but also increases the incidence of fractures due to poor quality of the bone formed.

Board sets wheels in motion to study particulars of putting additive into water supplyBy William Kibler, bkibler@altoonamirror.com

The Altoona Hospital Partnership for a Healthy Community may have a better chance than it did two years ago in persuading the Altoona City Authority to fluoridate its water to help reduce cavities.The authority now has a member who’s a fluoridation advocate — former Altoona Mayor Tom Martin.“It’s a disgrace we don’t have it,” said Martin at a meeting at the hospital Monday.........................

—Dr. James Smith, Dental Care Associates, who has an “idealist” attitude that gets him “beat up” at dental conferences:Fluoride works, but with mass fluoridation, you can’t adjust dosage for body size or seasonal differences in amounts ingested. You also can’t adjust to offset what students may get in school for part of the year or what people get in toothpaste and rinses. It’s like giving everyone an arbitrary dose of blood pressure medicine. And why should residents pay for fluoride in water they use to wash cars and dishes?

Monday, February 05, 2007

"Knowing that dental disease is a disease of lifestyle and is multi-factorial in nature, it will be more effective if planning and implementation of oral health promotion programmes take into consideration the socio-economic and health belief cultures practised by the Brunei community as a whole which may differ from other countries and also the differing,’ culture' amongst different people groups in the same country," he added.

Country-wide access to fluoride waterSobrina RosliBANDAR SERI BEGAWAN05-Feb-07ADENTAL health expert from the UK has stressed the need for "a high-level of political support" to ensure that the vast majority of Bruneians get access to fluoride water.During a seminar on dental public health and oral health programme yesterday, Anthony Blinkhorn, professor of oral health at the University of Manchester, highlighted the channelling of fluoride water as a way to prevent caries in as many people as possible.This is among major plans for Brunei's dental health campaign for which Blinkhorn serves as a consultant.

Is city water your cup of tea?By Toby Hatchettnews@seacoastonline.comA local joke goes something like this: Two men are in a bar. One is drinking whisky and the other is drinking Portsmouth tap water. Who's the tougher of the two? The one drinking the Portsmouth tap water.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

SOUTHEAST Queensland could have the highest percentage of recycled water in its drinking supply of any place in the world if the drought continues.If Brisbane's dams are almost empty when the recycled water pipeline comes on line late next year, all that would be left in the dam would be a 50-50 mix of desalinated and recycled water.The chairman of the Water Commission's recycled water advisory panel, University of Queensland professor Paul Greenfield, said he wasn't aware of a higher recycled water concentration anywhere.

Video on water treatment as well as news from Australia I found interesting.

Teeth care important for petsBy Jennifer GardnerI will admit that it’s not fun to brush my dog’s teeth. It’s not that he bites, but he certainly isn’t a big fan of having me mess with his mouth. So I completely understand that when you hear something like, “Brush your dog’s teeth for better dental health!” that you put it out of your mind. And when it’s bad enough with dogs, dealing with cat’s teeth can be even more challenging.But with February marking National Pet Dental Health Month, it’s a good time to look at how improved dental care can really be worth it.Why is it so important for your pet to have clean teeth? Beyond the nice side benefit of improved breath, clean teeth mean there’s less bacteria in your pet’s mouth and less plaque buildup. If not removed, the buildup can lead to gum disease, tooth loss and systemic bacterial issues that affect the heart, kidneys and liver. These problems shorten life span and decrease from quality of life. If you’ve ever had a toothache, or problems chewing your food, you understand why that would be unpleasant for your pet.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Fluoride is dangerousROBERT FALLAI commend The Record for publishing Dr. Gifford-Jones' Jan. 19 column on fluoride. This is an issue that needs to be brought to the attention of Waterloo's residents. Fluoridation of Waterloo's water was started in 1966 through a public referendum.So why revisit this issue? A lot has changed in the last 40 years. Today, there is a truckload of scientific data indicating that fluoridated water is having a negative effect on our health. Studies connect the use of fluoridated water to cancers, fluorosis, hip fractures and suppressed thyroid function, to name a few.So should you be concerned? You bet, especially if you are the guardian of babies or young children who are the most vulnerable. Fluoridation of our public water supply is compulsory mass medication. This is morally wrong!So what can we as concerned citizens do about this problem? We can start using fluoride-free toothpaste and avoid drinking water and beverages with added fluoride.We could all opt to install reverse-osmosis water filtration systems in our homes to remove the fluoride, but this is an expensive proposition. Oh, here's another idea. Why don't we just stop fluoridating our water? It will take another referendum to do this, but you can make this happen by voting against fluoridation.Robert FallaWaterloo

Friday, February 02, 2007

Dorset & New Forest Safe Water Society Chairman's letter

Dear Friends.We must continue our vigilance to protect our precious drinking water supplies. The situation may be better than 10+ years ago. Many of the levels of contaminants such as pesticides, nitrates have been reduced in quantityby the water companies. We must still be aware of the many doctors and dentists who seem to be totally unaware of serious environmental concerns and are still promoting water fluoridation !I have just been reading the latest issue of "Fluoride Journal-vol 39 no According to the editorial written by Professor Albert Burgstahler of Kansas, USA - The National Research Council (NRC) of U.S. Academy of Sciences published a 367 page "Review of fluorides in drinking water" in March 2006. There were over 1,000 references. They included a large amount of well documented evidence of the adverse health effects of fluorides in drinking water at or close to levels of 1 ppm or lower concentrations. Among these findings are the increase of dental fluorosis, depressed thyroid function, gastrointestinal problems, and detrimental neurological effects. Despite thef act that The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested the preparation of this document-they have not yet quoted from it or referred to it! It took three years in the making and as I said was actually published last March. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not referred to it either. Do the NRC-EPA -FDA talk to each other ! Well, I am sure that you regularly follow our blogger(ukagainstfluoride.blogspot.com/ ) As you can see, people just will not listen or take in anything that they read...and they dictate our NHS ! The pro-fluoride spiels go on despite massive amount of evidence against it .By the way there is to be an International Conference on Fluorides inBejing,China on 9-12 October 2007. If interested see www.fluorideresearch.comMy Best Wishes to all.Dr Anthony Fox,Chairman

A short time ago, according to health news, cellphones didn’t cause cancer. Now they do. Hormone replacement therapy was once considered safe. Now it’s not.We didn’t used to need to supplement our food intake with vitamins, but now we do, and once upon a time fluoride added to our drinking water had no adverse health effects. Now it does. About the fluoride: on teeth, it protects; ingested, it wreaks havoc. An as-yet-little-publicized finding (recently reported by the National Research Council) is that even low levels of ingested fluoride are linked to thyroid dysfunction and bone damage. And speaking of thyroid dysfunction, I seem to have touched a nerve with what I said about iodine supplementation a couple of weeks ago. In case you missed it, I am aware that Health Canada recommends intake no higher than 150 micrograms per day—which is not a lot. We’re talking micrograms, not grams. What I did (heaven forbid) was question the validity of that recommended allowance. What I did was suggest that, thanks to fluoride in our water and a million other interferences, we’re not getting as much as we need and may need to supplement. Levels of iodine in food are declining (thanks to super-efficient Big Ag farming methods and depleted soil levels), and levels of iodine-disrupting substances in our food and water and environment are at an all-time high. And prevalence of thyroid and related disorders in Canada and the US are up and rising. To continue ignoring road signs pointing us in a different direction—to keep trusting that iodized salt will result in healthy thyroids and lower cancer rates when it hasn’t been doing that—could be called magical thinking (or, on a cranky day, insanity). The truth is that average blood levels of iodine are down over the past 30 years, and thyroid and hormone-related cancers are up. Maybe there’s no link, but maybe there is.We know that environmental and dietary compounds that mimic estrogen upset endocrine balance (endocrine referring to hormones secreted directly into the bloodstream by glands like the thyroid). When soy was introduced to baby formulas back in the ’60s, incidence of goitre (abnormally enlarged thyroid glands) in babies skyrocketed; when iodine was supplemented, incidence was reduced again.And now we know that fluoride in our water is linked to thyroid trouble.Here’s the thing: although blood tests may indicate normal thyroid function, symptoms such as weight gain, insomnia, heart palpitations, fuzzy thinking, forgetfulness, irritability, dry skin and hair, headaches, feeling cold, fatigue, depression and hot flashes often disappear with the addition of kelp (a concentrated seaweed source of iodine) to the diet.One last little tidbit: iodine helps us get rid of toxic metal build-up—things like lead, mercury, cadmium, fluoride and bromide. Not that heavy metal toxicity has any connection to thyroid trouble or cancer. I’m not telling anyone what to do (most definitely not)—I’m just presenting an argument for iodine deficiency. I’m suggesting that a naturopathic doctor might be the best route to take when dealing with symptoms of thyroid and hormone imbalance, whether the condition is pronounced enough to show on blood tests or not. I’m suggesting that things change, and that Health Canada recommendations are not infallible and perfect for all time.Just this week we heard again about the ordinary B vitamin niacin being an effective HDL (good cholesterol) booster. Our current high LDL cholesterol epidemic should really be no surprise, given how we’ve undervalued whole foods and the importance of B vitamins and refined the crap out of everything (and then “enriched” it again, so we’d feel like we’re eating well, which we’re still not because white flour, even enriched, doesn’t even remotely resemble the whole grain). But it’s a sunny day; no need to be cranky. V

Battistello said the outcry about fluoride is not coming from just two members of the board of health."It's increasingly coming from residents," she said.Battistello said she attempted to set up a fluoridation seminar at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro to talk about anti-fluoridation research, but the hospital was not interested."It's very sad when the medical community is not open to hear about the topic," she said.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Melbourne (Florida) called 19 companies before making a deal to buy 4,500 gallons of fluoride for $12,000. The city usually paid $1,500 for the same amount, Klaproth said.Melbourne made its emergency order late last week when its supplier, LCI Ltd. of Jacksonville Beach, told the city it couldn't deliver the usual shipment because of problems with phosphate rock from its supplier, Mosaic Company."It's not about a shortage of rock. This particular issue has to do with the quality of rock they got," said Dave Messerlie, CEO of LCI. "They've switched to another mine, and things should get back to normal."Mosaic officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.Most fluoride comes from Florida phosphate fertilizer mines in the form of a residue "scrubbed" from their smokestacks.When U.S. Agri-Chemicals shut down its Fort Meade plant in late 2005, that took about 15 percent of the hydrofluosilicic acid -- one of the chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water -- off the market.A nationwide shortage during the past 18 months has been fueled by more utilities, especially in California, choosing to fluorinate their water.Palm Bay received refills to its fluoride tanks this past fall, and has a few months' supply left at its two treatment plants, officials said. But running out is not cause for alarm."It's not going to hurt you," said Scott Linkenhoker, operations manager for Palm Bay Utilities.The city began injecting the chemical in its water in 2001, after years of heated debate.Dental associations push for fluoridation to strengthen enamel, especially in elderly populations. Excess fluoride over many years, however, browns and pits teeth. It can also cause a crippling bone disease.No utilities in Brevard exceed allowable fluoride levels, said Paul Morrison, a manager in the drinking water section for Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Orlando."Whenever they put fluoride in the water, they usually have people that are for or against it," Morrison said.Contact Waymer at 242-3663 or jwaymer@flatoday.net.